Tale of a Princess Grand
by bucca2
Summary: The legend of how alicorns, crystal ponies, and changelings came to be, and most importantly of all-the untold story of Princess Celestia, growing up a princess, and struggling with matters like the first ever Changeling attack, King Sombra's takeover of the Crystal Empire, a love affair with Discord, and the terrible night when she had to banish her own sister, Luna, to the moon.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Hey guys:**

**Sorry I haven't been posting lately, a funny glitch with Fanfiction didn't allow me to sign in :( But I'm back now, and I'll try and get one or two more chapters up! Thanks for reading ;)**

**Glad to see you here! If you didn't already come from there, check out my other MLP fanfic, about Derpy Hooves and her relationship with the Timelord Doctor Whooves. I will try to post chapters weekly, or maybe semi-weekly. We'll see! Thanks for reading!**

In the beginning, there were only unicorns that controlled the sun and the moon.

The new land of Equestria was just founded, and the leaders of the three races: earth, pegasus and unicorn were only just recently allies, united by the now-famous phenomenon of the Windigoes and the new holiday created to celebrate it: Hearth's Warming Eve.

But there was a problem. Princess Platinum was becoming weak, for she alone could raise and lower the sun, while her citizens were becoming weary of raising and lowering the moon each night. Knowing that she wouldn't survive to produce an heir, she quickly called her second-in-command, Clover the Clever, to gather the other two leaders and their second-in-commands: Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy of the pegasi, Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie of the earth ponies.

Princess Platinum had seen a vision of a ritual that would bring about a new race of pony: a combination of earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn alike, a royal family to raise the sun and moon and take care of the citizens of Equestria, to rule over them fairly and equally.

She had also seen something else, that she did not tell anybody else: If Equestria were to continue on having three separate governments, then the races would never come together and become one, and there would still be separation. A race that would have something in common with all the races: strength, wings, and a horn.

The six ponies agreed to go forth and sacrifice themselves for the good of Equestria. So they went on a long journey to the Crystal Caves, far away in the cold snowy North. The six ponies made it, of course, but Princess Platinum collapsed once entering the cave, she was so weak.

Alarmed, the other leaders and second-in-commands turned to Clover the Clever, who had them carry the unconscious Princess Platinum to a luminous light at the back of the cave.

It was coming from a pool of shining milky white water, shimmering and throwing patterns of light onto the ceiling. A cracked, dull white gemstone lay in the front of the pool that seemed to rise out of the ground.

Clover the Clever began to panic slightly, for she did not know what to do. So she dipped her hooves into the pool and a vision filled her eyes, showing her what needed to be done. All three rulers and three second-in-commands needed to dip their hooves in the pool at once, and the Gem of Light at the front of the pool would repair itself and release the otherworldly beings that would be the beginning of a new race of rulers.

With some help from the other rulers, Clover the Clever managed to rouse poor Princess Platinum enough so all six ponies could dip their hooves into the pool.

A light filled the cave, a light that could be seen all the way in Equestria, healing the broken Gem of Light and breaking the rulers and second-in-commands into fragments of divine matter-and suddenly four alicorns lay sleeping in the pool.

There was Queen Galaxiana Amare Vana, with her beautiful white coat and orange mane and tail fading into a dark lavender that glittered with thousands of microscopic stars.

Then there was King Cosmopoliattan, torn straight out of the night, a stallion of dark blue-purple all over with wings covered in constellations.

There was Queen Emeralda Truella Vare, a beauty like no other, a crystalline queen of sparkling beauty with her emerald-green coat and pearly white mane and tail, with eyes of playful magenta.

And last but not least, there was Queen Thoraxia Silverwing, a breathtaking mare with a black coat and green mane and tail.

When the four awoke, they knew it was the duty of two of them to rule Equestria. But why were there four of them?

"Obviously I am to be the queen of Equestria, along with Cosmopoliattan," said Queen Thoraxia slyly.

But King Cosmopoliattan and Queen Emeralda Truella agreed that it should be humble but powerful Queen Galaxiana who should rule with King Cosmopoliattan. Queen Emeralda Truella had become fond of the crystals and the coldness of the North, and wished to establish another new kind of pony: the Crystal ponies, for she was different than her fellow royals in her crystalline appearance and could not imagine a life with Cosmopoliattan.

Queen Thoraxia was furious when Queen Galaxiana became the Equestrian queen instead of her, and the hate and rage in her heart turned her into a being not quite pony anymore: a Changeling, able to take on the appearance of a loved one and feed on love that a Changeling heart cannot provide, for nopony can survive without love.

As Queen Galaxiana and King Cosmopoliattan went south to Equestria and Queen Emeralda Truella began to establish her crystal kingdom, Queen Thoraxia retreated to the Hollow Mountains of the East, as the Mountains of the West were inhabited by dragons. There she secretly raised her civilization of Changelings like her, and began to create an army to lay siege to what she thought was rightfully hers.

After Queen Emeralda Truella had created the country soon to be known as the Crystal Empire, she asked Queen Galaxiana and King Cosmopoliattan if she could settle her land with some of their subjects, and, with royal agreement, happy volunteers were sent to the Crystal Empire to become beautiful Crystal Ponies.

Queen Emeralda's heart, however, had been taken by a ruby-red stallion by the name of Rubeus, and so she made him her king and they had a daughter-the princess of the Crystal Empire. She had a voice that made the birds stop and listen, and she played instruments so well that when she got her cutie mark, Queen Emeralda's Crystal Heart cutie mark with a music staff, nobody was surprised. Soon she fell in love with a stallion named Quillius, and they were married with a grand celebration.

Meanwhile, in Equestria, King Cosmo and Queen Galaxia were married, and had a filly they named Celestine Splendor Solis, a beautiful pink-maned filly with a pure white coat, destined to be the princess of the sun. Or Celestia, as she was known to everybody in Equestria.

A quarter of a century later King Cosmo and Queen Galaxia had another daughter, a beautiful dark blue filly with a violet mane that they named Lunaris Fulgeret et Lunam, or Luna for short. Queen Galaxia taught Celestia to raise and lower the sun, and King Cosmo taught Luna to raise and lower the moon. Then, King Cosmo taught Celestia to also raise and lower the moon, should her younger sister ever fall afoul of some sinister force and be unable to do her duty.

And so begins the tale of Princess Celestia.

**BTW, No, I did NOT get the Crystal Empire stuff wrong. (MLP FiM spoilers ahead, if you haven't already seen "The Crystal Empire" parts 1 and 2, do not read on!) Remember Cadence _is_ the heir to the Crystal Empire, but she IS YOUNGER THAN CELESTIA AND LUNA, so I didn't mention her 'cause she isn't born yet in this timeline. She is the daughter of Quillius and Amaris, King Rubeus and Queen Emeralda's daughter, the one whose voice makes birds stop and listen? Yeah? Yeah? Just wanted to clear that up. (BTW I know about the book about Cadence's origin story, so bear with me.)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Tia, Tia, T-T-T-T-Ti, ya!" sang Luna as she paraded down the hall towards her big sister Celestia's room.

"Urrggh," was Celestia's reply. Luna giggled. "C'mon, sleepy pants, get up! It's nearly time for the sun to rise!"

"Isn't Mom-oh no!" Celestia cried. Today was her turn to raise the sun, for real this time! Luna had already done last night's moon, much to her excitement.

Bolting upright, Celestia brushed out her pink mane and tail while dipping a washcloth in a basin of warm lemon water and wiping her face with it.

"Gah! Stupid...smudgy...mascara!" Luna watched as her sister fumbled with her black Elizabeth Hayden mascara tube.

"Just unscrew...no, the _other way_, Tia...yeah, that's right! Here, lemme hold it for you...no, don't! You'll spill...! Okay, that's fine. I'll get somebody to mop it up-oh don't, Tia, your mascara will run...see, now it's! Okay, good. You can just get a new tube!" Luna reassured Celestia.

"N-no, it's okay, I can s-still pick it u-up," said Celestia, trying to use magic to pick up the pool of dark liquid on the floor and failing. Her eyes brimmed with more tears, but she held them back.

"It's OK, big sis," Luna reassured her, pulling a bell by her sister's room's door. "We'll just let the janitors take care of it. But c'mon! You have to get to the Celestial Balcony!"

There were two balconies next to each other on the side of Canterlot Castle, the Celestial Balcony, where Queen Galaxia would raise and lower the sun, and the Lunar Balcony, where King Cosmos would raise and lower the moon. It was on the Celestial Balcony that Celestia had to raise the sun _for real_ for maybe the first time in her young 2000-year-old life, maybe 16 in a normal citizen's life.

After slipping on Celestia's hoof crowns, royal choker, and tiara, the two galloped through the hallways, dodging guards and maids with "Whoops" and "Sorry"s, making their way towards the other end of the castle-their parents' throne room, and behind it, the balconies.

Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos looked a little sour when their daughters entered the throne room.

"Sorry, I, woke, up, late," Celestia panted. "Then, my, mascara-"

"Well then, you're here now, daugher," said Queen Galaxia, cutting Celestia off. She gestured towards the Celestial Balcony. "Go on, now."

Luna gave Celestia a small smile as Celestia slowly trotted to the Celestial Balcony.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia focused all her concentration into casting The Spell, an endeavor that would require most of her strength, if not all of it. The Spell was even more complicated than raising the moon, which she'd already done once or twice when she was Luna's age. For the sun was even more powerful and frightening than the calm and serene moon.

"Urgh...agh..." Celestia struggled with the effort of casting the spell, tossing her head back and forth like she was the south end of a magnet coming up against the south end of another. The other "fake" suns her mother had created for her to practice on were nothing compared to the real-life sun, the gargantuan ball of flame that she had to raise everyday for thousands of years to come. The possibility that she wouldn't be able to do it scared her, and gave her just enough strength to finish the job.

There it was, the bright yellow sun in a dawn-streaked sky, lovely and radiant, and Celestia was proud of herself. Then suddenly...the sun extinguished itself, and everything went black.

"Tia? Tia, that was awesome! Tia?" came somepony's voice. But Celestia was underwater.

Or at least, it _seemed_ like she was underwater. She was in a peaceful, sea-green space, with pinpricks of beautiful white light surrounding her. She wasn't flapping her wings, but she her hooves weren't on solid ground. Not that there was any solid ground around to speak of.

She began to float gently down, and she panicked, flapping her wings to try and escape the inevitable suck down into the vacuum at the bottom of whatever strange dimension she had entered. But all to no avail, and Celestia prepared herself to enter the void.

Then, miraculously, her hooves touched solid land. Celestia looked down in surprise. A long strip of a thick cluster of those pinpricks of light formed something dense enough to carry her.

_Magic_, Celestia decided, and began walking down the path of stars, looking for the way out of this strange dimension.

All the while, she was listening to somepony's decidedly strange conversation. She determined that the three voices were concerned about somepony and that that somepony was somepony very important.

A young feminine voice said: "Is she okay? Will she wake up?"

An older feminine voice replied: "There shouldn't be a problem...she should wake up once the maid brings those smelling salts."

The young feminine voice again: "You mean the stuff Daddy went off to get?"

The older voice: "Yes. Don't you worry about your sister, Lunaris. She'll be fine. She's a tough one. You of all ponies should know."

The young voice: "I hope so."

The voices faded away and Celestia was left to wonder who the voices were. The older voice had referred to the younger voice as "Lunaris", so maybe that should mean something. But it didn't, not right then, anyway.

The path of stars seemed to go on forever, stretching on into the far distance. Celestia started wondering what this place was and how she'd gotten here.

How did she know her name was Celestia, anyway? Maybe it was Peachy Keen, or something. How was she so sure she was Celestia?

A very grand name it was, too. Celestia. She racked her brains to come up with a meaning for the fancy-sounding word, but to no avail.

Eventually Celestia began to wonder if she'd hear the voices again, and find out what those "smelling salts" were and the identity of the important somepony the two voices had been talking about.

_Had she died?_ The frightening possibility was...well, frightening. It was entirely possible she had died and was listening to random snippets of conversation other ponies were having. Or maybe her own fevered mind was making them up. It must be. Who'd ever heard of anypony named Lunaris, anyway? Or smelling salts? What were those?

She could really use something soft to sit on, she decided. How long was this road, anyway?

Instantly a lovely white chaise with gold edging and two similarly colored throw pillows appeared.

"Oh! Well, this is nice," Celestia said aloud, sitting herself on the chaise to catch her breath.

"I wonder..." Celestia wondered if she thought about caviar, it would appear. Instantly a small gilded side-table with a plate of caviar and a stack of fancy crackers appeared in front of the chaise.

"Hm!" said Celestia. Could she do animals? Maybe a fluffy little white poodle?

"Arf! Arf!" A small curly-haired white lapdog appeared and began to run in circles around the chaise, only narrowly missing the side-table each time.

Celestia giggled and summoned a plate of small meaty dog treats, and the lapdog stopped running in circles to enjoy the meal.

Celestia sighed in happiness and laid back against the throw pillows as she summoned up a hay shake. Ahh, delicious. She tried a bit of caviar, and nearly gagged. Where on _earth_ had she gotten the idea to summon _caviar_?

Then suddenly everything blurred, and Celestia opened her eyes to find that the terrible taste of caviar had melted from her mouth, her hay shake was gone, her enthusiastic little lapdog had vanished, and she was now laying on her bed instead of a fancy white chaise.

"Tia? Tia! You're-wow, you're beautiful," whispered Luna as Celestia came to.

All her memories came flooding back. The voices she'd heard were Luna's and her mother Galaxia's. She now remembered what smelling salts were and that her mother loved caviar, not her.

"Oh, my stars," Celestia said excitedly. "It was amazing: Luna, there was this space, there were so many stars and I could summon a sofa and a little lapdog and caviar-"

Queen Galaxia gasped. "You found your Plane!" she said.

"My what?" Celestia said, instantly confused.

"Your Plane, essentially your sanctuary," Queen Galaxia explained. "When you enter it, you enter into a deep sort of sleep, and you never get tired or hungry or cold in your Plane. You can summon things of your choosing, and bring others into your Plane."

"Really? How? Can I bring Luna?" Celestia said, excited.

Queen Galaxia smiled gently. "You probably couldn't," she said. "You can only bring ponies who have proved themselves worthy to become an alicorn," Queen Galaxia said. "If they weren't born alicorn, of course."

"Oh. What is it, then?" Celestia asked. "What is this Plane?"

"It's your consciousness, a sort of divine alternate dimension all for your use. I have one as well," said Queen Galaxia. "You activated it by using your divine powers for the first real time."

"Ooo! Ooo! Do I get a Plane?" asked Luna eagerly.

"We'll see then, won't we," said Queen Galaxia. But Celestia could tell from her tone of voice that the answer was no.

"Okay," said Luna. "Will my mane get all flowy and change colors like Celestia's?"

"What do you mea-" Celestia glanced at her mane and tail and gasped.

It was all flowy and sparkly, just like her parents' manes and tails, instead of being a soft baby pink, her mane and tail were now striped with darker pink and gold and orange and red. They glittered like a filly had spilled an entire jar of stars the size of craft glitter on her. And most of all...

"Your cutie mark!" gasped Luna. "It's so beautiful!"

Smack-dab and perfectly aligned on both of Celestia's flanks was a lovely orange-gold sun with a yellow center and wavy, vaguely triangle-shaped rays in perfect intervals.

It was Celestia's long-coveted cutie mark.

"Ohmystarsohmystarsohmystarsohmystaaaars," Luna nearly screamed. "Do you know what this means?"

"I don't know, what?" Celestia asked her excited little sister with a smile.

"This means when _I_ get to raise the moon, _I'm_ gonna get a Plane, and a pretty mane and tail, and my cutie mark!" Luna squealed. "Ohmystarsohmystarsohmystars!"

Celestia laughed. "Calm down," she said. "You'll get there eventually. Only one century left," she said. Luna was 1900 years old.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhh!" Luna began hopping about the room just as King Cosmos burst in and said: "Luna! Your sister needs-" and saw his daughter.

"Do you know what this means?" he said in his deep voice, not unlike his favorite daughter Luna.

"Yes!" Celestia squealed.

"Coronation Day!"


	3. Chapter 3

They came in a very strange way, Sombra and Discord. And nobody could have guessed that the draconequus and the shy, reserved stallion would become anything more than...well...the embodiment of chaos and an evil overlord. But forget that now and let's visit the princesses.

It was not very long after Luna's 2000th birthday and first moon rising ("My mane! Is like! Oil in waaaaater! Oooooohhh my staaaaars!") that two very strange visitors to Canterlot Castle arrived.

Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos had just left on a visit to the Crystal Empire a couple days ago, and left the management of the sun, moon, and Canterlot Castle to the princesses. The princesses were then free to do whatever they wanted, but for most of the day they had to sit upon the royal thrones and wait for things to happen. Usually nothing did.

Celestia and Luna were playing Concentration on the second day, waiting for something, anything, to happen, when a guard came in and announced the arrival of a draconequus and an earth stallion at the gates.

"Let them in," said Celestia decidedly, despite the guard's description of them looking like "trouble makers".

The guard pursed his lips. "As you say, Highness."

Soon a grey-black stallion with limpid strands of pitch-black hair for a mane and tail entered the throne room. He had disturbing maroon-colored eyes that he tacked directly onto Luna with a sort of hungry fascination.

Next to him was the draconequus, a being Celestia had only heard of. He had a long body the color of old blood, strangely, a donkey head, yellow and red eyes, a lion's paw and a rooster's claw, a dragon tail, a green dragon leg, and a pony hoof, not to mention a deer antler and a blue goat's horn.

They both bowed when they were in front of the princesses. The stallion introduced himself as Sombra, with those unnerving dark red eyes of his, and the draconequus, as Discord.

"That's a strange name," Celestia said, thinking of a discord as a lack of musical harmony.

"Yes, well, I suppose I'm lack of harmony personified, being a draconequus and all," said Discord with a faint flush on his cheeks. "I mean, look at me. I'm a goat-donkey-deer-dragon pony."

Celestia blushed as well. "I guess."

A royal mail messenger entered the throne room. "Mail for Your Highnesses," he said gruffly.

"Yes, thank you," Celestia said diplomatically, taking the single letter from him. It was in her mother's flowy script, and she smiled and tucked it away to read later.

"So how can we help you two?" asked Luna, still watching Sombra.

"Er-well, we know it's not proper, to, er, ask royalty for lodgings, but-I'm afraid we have to do it," said Discord awkwardly. "We don't look like a very, er, trustworthy pair, as you can see, so nopony will, uh, let us stay for a night or two, but I swear we won't cause any harm. We just need to stay for a couple days. And we won't tell anypony about this. Canterlot Castle's not, like, a hotel or anything," he added with a nervous chuckle.

Luna looked imploringly at her sister. "Just a couple of days, Celestia?" she said in a very formal voice, not matching the look she was giving. Celestia frowned at her.

"Erm-of course, sister. Three nights?" Celestia asked.

"That should be enough," said Sombra in a rumbly voice.

"Er, yes." Discord said.

"Well, then, we'll have somepony show you to your rooms," Celestia said.

"Thank you ever so much, Your Highness," said Discord effusively.

"Thank you, Your Highness," rumbled Sombra, looking for the first time at Celestia.

A maid came by and escorted Discord and Sombra to their rooms, while Luna and Celestia were left to discuss this odd pair.

"They must be very brave, to come and ask for lodgings at Canterlot Castle," said Luna.

"Well, I don't think the draconequus is very familiar with Equestrian society," said Celestia. "Discord, right?"

"Yes, but what about that stallion Sombra?" Luna asked. "Shouldn't he know?"

Celestia shrugged. "Maybe they're not as good friends as we were led to believe, so Sombra would have just come riding in on Discord's figurative coattails."

Luna threw her sister a doubtful look. "Do you really think so?"

"It's a possibility."

Luna shrugged. "Okay, then."

That night Luna went to check on Sombra and Celestia went to Discord's room.

"Oh! Your-your Highness," said Discord with surprise when he opened the door. "What a, er, pleasant surprise?"

Celestia smiled. "I just wanted to check on you, make sure your lodgings are to your liking," she said.

"They're perfect, Your Highness," Discord. "If they were anything but I wouldn't be in any position to say so, however." Discord gave a nervous chuckle.

Celestia giggled. Discord made her feel strange, all light-headed and airy, like she'd never felt before. What was this witchery? Why a strange draconequus, of all things?

Celestia spent nearly an hour with Discord, just kind of getting to know her guest. She made her giggle. A lot. And most of what he said wasn't even all that funny. She just wanted to make him smile in that shy way of his whenever she laughed at his jokes.

Soon it was nearly time for Luna to raise the moon, so Celestia knocked on Sombra's door. "Luna? It's nearly time for sunset."

Luna opened the door and came out, giggling madly and promising Sombra to stop by his room whenever she could. Finally she gently shut his door and the two sisters began walking to the balconies.

"You seem enamored with your guest," Celestia smirked. Luna's face took on a dreamy quality, ignoring Celestia's jest.

"You wouldn't know it, Tia, but he's so funny and smart! He goes to UM, you know, he's, like, the only earth pony there!" Luna said, still a little giggly. "I'm so glad we let them stay."

"Me too," Celestia told her, thinking about Discord.

"How did your visit with Discord go, by the way?" said Luna, catching Celestia off guard so much that she blushed. Luna gasped, understand lighting up her face in a joyful smirk.

"You have a crush on Discord!" she exclaimed.

"Don't be silly, Luna," Celestia snapped, embarrassed. "I've known him for hardly more than an hour."

"Love at true sight is a thing, you know," Luna said.

"Oh, I could tell by the look on your face when you left Sombra's room." It was Celestia's turn to smirk now, and Luna's to blush.

"He's-he's nice," she said, and that was it.

The next day was pure bliss. At the end of the day Celestia could safely say that she and Discord were tentative friends.

It made her ridiculously happy.

But the next day Sombra and Discord had to leave, because the king and queen were returning the next day and would not take too kindly to the unwanted visitors. So it was with many fond farewells that the princesses bid the travelers goodbye.

"I'm really going to miss him," said Luna after the travelers had gone their different ways and off into the horizon.

"Discord? Yeah," Celestia said.

"No, Sombra. I may never have a male friend like him again," said Luna.

"I know what you mean," Celestia said.

The next day she greeted her parents cheerfully, but secretly wished that they would have stayed away forever, so Discord could have stayed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Daughter. A member of the royal guard says you let two travelers stay in the castle while we were gone," Queen Galaxia said to Celestia not very long after Discord and Sombra stayed over.

"Oh, did he?" said Celestia casually, as her body froze and her blood boiled. That treacherous guard! Revealing Luna and her secret as if he had a right!

"He did," said Queen Galaxia. She took a deep breath.

"I was once like you, as well," she said, surprising Celestia, who had been expecting a scolding and another lecture about her duties as royalty.

"What? What do you mean?" she asked.

"I was in love once, as well," she said.

"Wha-? I wouldn't fall in love with a stranger!" Celestia protested.

"I am warning you to guard your heart, daughter. And your sister's as well. There are many who would take advantage of royalty," Queen Galaxiana said.

"I wouldn't fall in love with a stranger!" Celestia protested. "What gave you any inkling that I would have any chance of falling in love with the strangers?"

"The guard voiced his concerns about the appropriateness of the goodbye," Queen Galaxiana said. "He thought it too...friendly, for strangers." She herself looked doubtful about the accuracy of the guard's so-called "concern".

"And you trust this guard? Mother, that guard had no right prying into our business. Was it a crime befriending a stallion and a draconequus who had come to seek lodging?" Celestia was starting to lose her cool. "We did nothing but talk with them!"

"I trust you, daughter, and Luna. I just wanted to warn you. Luna especially."

"I suppose it's because she's younger, so she needs a better warning," Celestia grumbled.

"No, because Trottimus is likely to fancy her," said Queen Galaxia.

"What? Who is Trottimus?"

"He's the guard who announced the draconequus and the stallion's arrival, or so he told me. He was also stationed at the entrance when you and Luna said goodbye to the guests. Trottimus was probably madly jealous that a strange stallion who, in his opinion, didn't even know Luna, got a hug from Luna while he, a guard who probably knew Luna much better, had hardly gotten a second glance."

"Well, that's silly. He should know that he's got no chance."

"Love is strange like that. Under the circumstances, when I was essentially forced to marry your father, I still fell madly in love with him anyway. Not many mares would do the same, if they had to do such a thing. Don't you think?"

"Yes, Mother, but you're not 'many mares'. You're special," Celestia said fondly. Queen Galaxia kissed her daughter on the forehead, right by her horn.

"You'll make a fine queen one day," she said.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll have everypony call me Princess. I've gotten so used to it," Celestia mused. "Okay, well, I'll tell Luna about Trottimus and everything."

"Good." Queen Galaxia winked and headed for her quarters.

It was only then that Celestia realized that her mother had said she had been in love "once". Did that mean she fell in love with King Cosmos, then fell out of love? Or had there been another stallion? Unlikely, because King Cosmos was her destined husband from the moment she, King Cosmos, and two other alicorns had appeared in the pool in the Crystal Cave, by the Crystal Empire. Celestia had heard the legend so many times over.

"Lu-u-na," Celestia sang as she approached Luna's door. "Our wonderful lovely mother has a message for us!"

Quickly there was a rustling of papers and hushed voices...more than one?! Celestia pressed her ear to the door and heard: "Quickly, hide!"

Suddenly the door opened and it was all Celestia could do to keep from falling flat on her face.

"Tia? Where's Mother?" said Luna, looking about with quick whirls of her head.

"She isn't here," Celestia replied casually. "She told me to tell you-"

"Come in! Hurry!" Luna grabbed Celestia into her room and firmly shut the door. Celestia noticed that one of Luna's big windows were wide open and a breeze was blowing in.

"What did Mother have to say?" Luna asked, gesturing for her sister to sit down.

Luna's room was the incarnation of the night sky. Her walls were a light magenta draped with long swooping swatches of sparkly dark blue silk layered over darkish violet swatches over metallic silver ones in loose oval shapes with the tops of the ovals appearing to be cut off.

A lovely starburst-shaped rug sewn with Luna's pick of stars (Lunar royals had to do the stars, as well) lay at the foot of the canopy bed, draped with soft down feather pillows in violet and blue throw pillows with rows of small balls of blue wool and long swaths of shimmery blue and violet silks that could go over heavy dark blue velvet curtains that were mainly for privacy. The frames, headboard, and footboard of the bed were all white wood.

At the other end of the room was a large bay window in diamond style, with each of the diamonds a different shade of blue. It was the same design repeated three times over, of course, but rearranged. Next to the window was Luna's blue dressing table with brushes and little crystal bottles of perfume scattered all over the top. The doors to her walk-in closet stood by the door, shut firmly.

"Who was in your room with you just now?" Celestia asked, suspicious.

"Nopony," Luna said nonchalantly.

"Okay, well, she knows about Sombra and Discord."

Luna gasped. "Oh, no!"

"It's okay, she's not really mad about it," Celestia reassured. "I don't think Father knows."

Luna sighed in relief. "Okay, that's good at least."

"She just wanted you to know, though, about the guard that ratted us out? His name's Trottimus, and she seems to think he's fallen for you."

"Seriously?" Luna snorted. "Does he think I'd still accept him even after he's told on us? Anyways, he's only a lowly guard, so he's got no chance."

"Don't be so harsh on him. You'll never see Sombra again, anyway, and he was probably your only real male interaction," Celestia said, her mind already drifting off towards Discord.

"No, I'll probably see Sombra-" A sound of something crashing against Luna's closet door stopped her sentence, and Luna looked fleetingly frightened for a split second before recovering and going: "I really need to clean my closet, don't I?" and giggled in a nervous sort of way.

"Definitely. I'll help you," Celestia said. "You're going to hit your head while searching for a dress in there one day, Luna. A hatbox is going to fall off a high shelf and knock you dizzy. In fact, let's get it organized now," Celestia said aimlessly, concerned about her sister. The sound of a pile of clothes shifting around on the floor came from the closet.

"No! No, it's okay, I'll just get a maid in here later," said Luna hurriedly as Celestia moved towards the closet doors. Celestia stopped.

"Okay, if you're sure you're going to do it," she said doubtfully, reaching for Luna's room's door.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure," said Luna, essentially herding her sister towards the door. "I'll do that."

A creaking sound and a "Damn!" came from the closet and startled Celestia. Luna winced.

"Is there somepony in your closet?" Celestia asked, surprised. She quickly strode over to the closet doors and threw them open-

and Sombra fell out of it!

"S-sombra?" Celestia turned to Luna. "Luna, why is he here?"

Luna put on a surprised face. "Sombra? What are you doing here?!" Her sister glared at her.

"Stop pretending, Luna. You've been hiding Sombra in your closet? For how long?"

Luna winced again. "Not very long! When I came back to my room I found him stumbling in through the open window, and then you came and I made him get in, I just wanted to talk to him! I missed him already," she said, mumbling at the end.

Celestia softened. "Okay, that's better. But...Luna, can I talk to you?" She glanced at Sombra. "In private?"

"Er-I'll just, uh, go back out the way I came," Sombra said, blushing madly. As soon as the tip of his tail was out the window, Celestia glared at Luna.

"Why did he come back? And why in Equestria did you let him in?" Celestia demanded. Luna cowered a little.

"I told you, I missed him! At first I thought I was hallucinating, but it was really him, and I was so surprised that I didn't make him leave and then you came and he went into the closet," Luna said, adding quietly, "He's the only one who understands me."

"Really?! You didn't think of the repercussions if, say, Trottimus came by to check on you and saw the intruder? Or if Father came by? I'd tell you what would happen. You'd be in deep, deep trouble and Sombra'd be imprisoned! Don't you ever think, Luna?" Then Celestia realized what she'd just said.

"You don't think I understand you?" she said softly, hurt.

"I-" Before Luna could finish, Celestia turned and left her room, slamming the doors behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't get it! What is her problem? What, she doesn't trust me? Did she think I'd rat her out to a guard or something? We're sisters, and since everypony respects royalty too much and we'd lose them quickly anyway, we can't make any other friends. We only have each other!" Celestia fumed, pacing about her room.

"That's completely right! I mean, sisters should trust each other, right?" Discord said, perching precariously on Celestia's window.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem she trusts me. And you know what? I don't trust her either. Get out, Discord."

"What?" Discord looked shocked. "You're blaming me for this?"

"No, because I think I hear hoofsteps in the hallway," Celestia said with sudden urgency.

"Oh right." Discord dove out of the window just as a knock came from the door.

"Tia?" Knock knock. "Tia." Knock knock. "Tia?" Knock knock. "Tia."

"Oh dungbarrels," Celestia muttered under her breath. "Hold up," she whispered to an escaping Discord. "I'm coming, too."

"Tia? Tia. Tia? Tia." came from the door as Celestia quietly shut the window on the note she'd hastily scrawled. By the time Luna let herself in, she and Discord were long gone.

Luna-

If you came to apologize this is your chance to make things right. Cover for me, 'kay? I'll be back in an hour.

-Tia

PS If you really need to find me, look for a mare called Firebolt. Don't tell Mom or Dad!

"Ha ha ha haaa!" whooped Celestia as she and Discord glided across the sky. "This is amazing!" she shouted.

Discord grinned. "You've never been out of the palace, princess?"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't call me that. And I can leave the palace anytime I want, it's just that I usually don't fly because it's too tiring."

"Yeah, well, you are a princess," Discord said. "Dainty dainty Celestia." He smirked at her.

"Don't call me Celestia either." Celestia had cast a cloaking spell on herself and now looked like a mare with a white coat, bright orange eyes, and an orange-and-red mane and tail, whose cutie mark was a gold-orange lightning bolt with a lovely red and orange hibiscus flower at the top and little flame-like accents.

"My name is Firebolt," Celestia said. "Please just call me that in public. If you start calling me Celestia people will start wondering what's going on."

"Whatever you say, princess. Can I please just call you princess anyway? It's awkward and people won't think anything of it," Discord begged.

"Do what you like," Celestia said. "Just don't bust my cover."

"Wouldn't dream of it, puh-rin-cess," Discord smirked.

Celestia sighed. "I snuck out with you to have fun. This, so far, isn't worth the risk."

"Oh, don't worry 'bout that. But first, let's go to Joe's Coffee Shop." So I followed Discord, still loving the feeling of flying and missing it while we landed in front of Joe's.

Sipping his iced coffee, Discord went: "Well then, Princess, you've snuck out with me and managed to make one of my admirers jealous, but frankly I don't know the most basic things about you. Like, maybe...your favorite flavor of cake? Or your favorite color? Or..."

"My favorite flavor of cake?" Celestia asked, surprised. "Well, my favorite color's always been green, I suppose. A deep, beautiful emerald green. And...cake? I guess...uh...devil's food, I suppose."

"Ah! Devil's food, you say? That's my personal favorite as well." Discord grinned. "Anything else I should know about you, puh-rin-cess?"

"Don't say it like that," Celestia replied. "That's really grating on my nerves."

"Well how else should I say it, puh-rin-cess?" Discord rolled his eyes as he chomped down on his second donut.

"Normally. Hey, Discord, this was fun, but...I should really get back."

"It's been all of ten minutes! Jeez, I'm sorry for calling you princess, Firebolt. Now are you going to stay?"

"No. I really need to get back, because in five seconds that guard's going to realize that you're the draconequus his friend just told him about that kidnapped the princess!"

Okay. Hit pause, you say? Sure. How did Celestia know all that?

Well, it's really a sworn alicorn secret, but I'm narrating this story, so who cares if I tell you? Besides, you're not going to tell anypony, are you?

Alicorns are born with a special sense that tells them when anypony nearby them (I'd say a maybe five or seven hoof radius, give or take) is talking or thinking about them. Using this sense Celestia was able to hear the guard thinking: "That draconequus must know something about the princess".

Hit play.

"Back door, Joe'll let us out," Discord whispered out of the corner of his mouth, not looking at the guards. "Now laugh like I said something funny."

Celestia laughed suddenly, startling Discord, but he managed to mask it quite well. He smiled, stood up, and offered me a claw. I took it, and together we walked-casually-to where Joe was wiping down his countertop.

"Hey Joe? Do you think you could do us a favor?"


	6. Chapter 6

Celestia panted as she waved goodbye to Discord, who didn't wave back because he was too busy dodging behind turrets so the guards wouldn't spot him. Even though it broke her heart a little, she understood why he had to do it.

Uncasting her cloaking spell, Celestia waved to draw the guards' attention away from Discord's flickering movements. "Guards? Is there a problem?"

"Oh, uh, princess?" one of the guards called as they looked up. They looked so surprised Celestia had to keep from bursting into gleeful laughter.

"Yes, it's me, sirs," she said tartly. "I asked, _is there a problem_?"

"Where have you been, princess? Princess Luna said you were out with a friend but we couldn't find you anywhere!" the other guard called. I recognized him as Trottimus.

"I fell asleep! Did nopony think to check my room?" Celestia said, pretending to look angry. "My sister was misinformed."

"Uh, well, we just acted on her words, princess-" Trottimus said, fidgeting a little.

"Well I'm _fine_, so call off the search!" Celestia yelled, seeing Discord's safely retreating tail-tip retreating into the horizon. She smiled a little.

"But your highness, we spotted a that draconequus in the area and we were told to arrest him," shouted Trottimus.

"Who told you?" Celestia shouted. She'd just about to shut her window, too.

"Er, your sister, the Princess Luna?" Trottimus said awkwardly. His friend elbowed him but he was ignored.

"Well, cancel the order!" And with that Celestia shut the windows.

"Gee, Trottimus, I guess your reputation as a liar and a tattle tale's gonna get you the princess, eh? I've gotta try that sometime," Trottimus's friend grumbled.

"Ah, no, Razor Sharp, _please_ don't-" But it was too late. Razor Sharp had already left him standing, alone, within view of the princess's bedroom windows.

Unfortunately, both curtains were shut firmly.

"Luuuuuna!" singsonged Celestia as she knocked on her sister's door. "Are you iiiin theeeere?"

The door opened and Luna peeked her head out. "Oh. I got your note," Luna said, levitating the piece of still-folded parchment. "I told them you went out with a friend."

"Good call. Say, did you hear about, oh, I don't know, an _arrest warrant_ for a very special draconequus?" Celestia said as she stepped into her sister's room. Luna shrugged.

"I told Trottimus not to spread his lies, but I don't think he heard me. All he said was: 'I'll protect you, princess, and your sister too' and rushed off."

"Sounds like a line the evil sorceress says in _The Wonderful Wizard of Ez_," Luna replied. "'I'll get you, Ponythy, and your little dragon too!'"

"I might get a copy of that," Celestia murmured.

"Oh, you can borrow mine," Luna said, taking a shiny new copy of _The Wonderful Wizard of Ez_ from her bookcase. "I got it signed by L. Frank Bale himself!"

"No thanks, I like reading classics," Celestia said. "I don't really fancy newfangled fantasy stories."

"Hey, you never know, this could become a classic! It's good enough to be," Luna said, flicking through the pages.

"So," she said, eyes still traveling across the lines of text, "who's Firebolt?"

"Uh," Celestia said, choking a little. "Uh, she's, uh, the friend I, er, snuck out with," she said, awkwardly. Luna gave her a look and returned _The Wonderful Wizard of Ez_ to her bookcase.

"Then why'd I see Discord and some white orange- and red-maned pegasus mare flying towards Joe's Coffee Shop?" she asked.

"I don't know," Celestia said, shrugging innocently.

Luna sighed. "I _know_ what your cloak looks like, Celestia. I know you were with Discord. Plus, you two were _flying away from your window_. Excuse me if I assumed the worst."

Celestia huffed. "Fine. I was with Discord. Happy? Are you going to tell Mum or Dad?" she retorted.

"N-no," Luna stuttered. "I'm sorry I said Sombra was the only one who understands me. You understand me too, it's just that you're never really around."

"Never-what are you _saying_?" Celestia shouted. "I'm in the palace 24/7! I'm always around!"

"No! You don't get it! He understands me in a _different_ way, Tia. We've grown up together so your mind is hard-pressed into royal ways of thinking! Sombra's an outsider, who sees things differently, and it's refreshing," Luna said desperately.

"Refreshing. Okay, well, then, I'll leave you to be refreshed," Celestia said, maybe a little colder than she should have.

"Won't you stay, though? I saw this really cute mane style in _Manes Monthly_ that was _perfect_ for you-" Luna said, beginning to babble.

"No thanks," Celestia cut her off. "I'll pass. I've got to lie down for a bit."

**Hey hey hey! I know y'all might be a little confused, so here goes: The Wonderful Wizard of Ez is the Equestrian version of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I just changed it from Oz to Ez because, you know, Equestria, E? I know, it's terrible. Ponythy wasn't my best, either. And L. Frank Bale. Because, you know, horses like hay, and hay comes in bales? Ha ha...not funny.**

**But I tried to make The Wonderful Wizard of Ez seem like a new book, by referring to Luna's copy as a "shiny" one, having L. Frank Bale sign it, and having the sisters talk about it as if it weren't a classic yet. Just to remind you, that this is in the princess's early years. Even though our Wonderful Wizard of Oz isn't thousands of years old. Actually, I don't know whether ponies still read it in Twilight's time-probably not. Read on, faithful...uh...reader!**


	7. Chapter 7

Celestia didn't see Discord after that for a very, very long time-she didn't know what he was doing and it was probably better she didn't.

Luna continued to be plagued with Trottimus's presence, and it became too risky for Sombra to visit. One night Celestia was awoken to the sound of shouting from Luna's room. It sounded like Luna was hanging out the window.

Curious, Celestia tiptoed quietly to the wall her room and Luna's shared and listened in.

"-for example how about your little pet guard? Ever thought of him?" _That voice is Sombra's_, Celestia thought, startled. She knew it would be really terrible of her to breach her sister's privacy, but she simply couldn't help herself. She _had_ to hear why Luna and Sombra were nearly shouting. Because if they did get too loud, guards would swarm the palace to find the intruder, and Sombra would probably get caught.

_How did he get up here, anyway?_ Celestia thought as Luna's angry voice replied.

"Pet guard? You knoweth not what you speak of," Luna said angrily, beginning to use some of the modern slang ponies were using nowadays in her fury. "He is just a highly vexing lovesick puppy. He's of no importance at all, for he's only a lowly guard."

"Oh, I know of some mares who'd hack off their manes just to get the opportunity to get at a 'lowly guard', so you say," came Sombra's jeering voice. He'd gained a lot of confidence, Celestia noted. It certainly showed in his voice and attitude.

"Well, I'm not one of those mares. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get some sleep." Celestia could hear Sombra going: "Wait, wait!" before she heard Luna close the window. Sombra's muffled protest only lasted for less than a minute before he left. Luna yawned loudly and was soon snoring.

Not long after, so was Celestia, whose last thought was that _that_ visit was surely Sombra's last.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Time passed, and neither princesses ever saw Sombra or Discord again. They both seemed a little down for a couple weeks, but Luna recovered much faster with Trottimus's support. She always kept him at a safe distance, however. "We're only friends," she said when asked about her supposed "affair" with a royal guard.

Celestia went through a lonely period where she became moody and disinterested in everything, often preferring staring out the windows for long periods of time to actually doing anything. Everypony assumed it was just a phase and let her be.

She was really sulking about the unfairness of it all, though. Listening in that night had turned out to be a bad choice for her. She and Discord never got a chance, whilst Luna really had a chance to have Sombra if she really wanted it. Celestia knew she should be happy that her sister got _some_ lasting joy, but then Luna would do something with Trottimus and she'd get all sulky again.

_Why does _Luna _of all ponies get a second chance? And then she doesn't even take it! I know Trottimus is only a guard, but she could do worse! What does she want, for some royal to pop out of the Pool of Light and ask for her hoof in marriage?_

Not that any child of theirs would be worth it. Alicorns came only from either the Pool of Light (which had returned back to its inactive state, as indicated by the Gem of Light once again becoming dull and decidedly unshiny, and a jagged crack down its middle) or from two alicorns mating. Even then, the DNA might soon fade out over a couple of generations. Then again, alicorns could only be killed with powerful magic nopony had, or could ever obtain, so there seemed no reason to panic.

Or so all of Equestria-excepting its rulers-thought. Even the princesses had no idea of the threat to the east-Queen Thorax and her slumbering army.

Slowly she had kidnapped ponies here and there and encased them in a cocoon of green gel. She then cast a powerful spell upon them, painfully transforming them into changelings.

Carefully, carefully, over the thousands of years, Queen Thorax managed to steal ponies and turn them into her minion Changelings. Soon she had no use for kidnapping them except to feed her "children" with the poor victims' love. After that, they were either turned into changelings or, worse, killed.

Over time Queen Thorax no longer left her swarming hive in the Hollow Mountains of the East. She had plenty of minions to do _that_ for her. She even taught a select few elevated-in-rank "officers" the changeling creation spell so she could focus on what really mattered-producing an heir.

Since Queen Thorax was so broken, her heart so wracked with suffering, pain, and hate, she could no longer live for millions of years as her alicorn siblings could. She'd felt herself getting weak, oh-so weak, and selected one of her most upstanding generals to aid her in producing her one and only daughter, the Princess Chrysalis.

As time went on, Queen Thorax instilled hate and darkness into her daughter's heart, successfully ensuring she would never fail in her duties, nor ever even wonder at the moral of what she was doing. For other kingdoms were the enemy, and she must never forget that.

Soon, she began to prepare for the kidnapping of Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos.

Oh, it was no easy feat alright. Originally she'd wanted to create a powerful magical prison to hold the two royals, but then she made something better-Tartarus.

Oh, sure, it contained an unearthly beast inside it called Tirek, but it was withered, too weak to escape its supernatural confines. So Queen Thorax simply..._prepared_ a part of Tartarus for new inhabitants. Sure, she lost a couple dozen minions in the process, but they didn't matter.

And soon, she was ready.


	8. Chapter 8

Afterwards, the princesses didn't even know what happened.

A large amount of Equestrian citizens had been purportedly "acting strange"-and while it probably shouldn't have worried the royals, it did.

They knew about changelings. They knew how they worked. They knew they took on the form of those you love to feed on your love for them.

They alerted the royal guard to these new enemies, but then flushed them out of the palace. They could only guard the perimeter now, and all the windows were draped with black cloth.

The royal family could trust nopony now.

Secretly, secretly, King Cosmos and a group of select other trustworthy ponies built a castle in the Everfree Forest near Ponyville where the royal family could hide out. Queen Galaxia educated the princesses on changelings, to prepare them, and told them where the castle was, ordering them to _never tell anypony else_ or they would all be captured by Queen Thorax.

Luna was scared out of her wits, and began to hole up in her room frequently. Celestia, however, had to step up and be the big sister, a role she didn't entirely embrace. It was a lot of work, frantically learning how to run an entire kingdom before insectoid ponies that fed on love overran the palace. Many nights she got only four or five hours of sleep.

It was harder on the king and queen, however. The King, of course, was busy with building the gray castle in the Everfree Forest. Queen Galaxia often got less sleep that Celestia did, and had a very hard time trying to draw her younger daughter out of her rooms. So she asked Celestia to try.

She tried asking. "Luna? Do you think you could come out for a moment?"

She tried persuasion. "Luna, you should probably come out. It'll be quick, I promise!" She tried bribery. "Luuuna, if you come out you'll find a really amazing surprise waiting for you!"

That almost drew her out, but then Luna asked, "What?"

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you!"

"Is it...is it S? Has he come back for me?"

"You know we couldn't let him in even if he came back, silly. The cooks have prepared a banquet, with all your favorite foods! Come on out!"

"I'm not hungry right now."

She finally tried anger. "Luna, if you don't come out _this instant_, I'll blast your door open right here and now and drag you out kicking and screaming!"

"I'm halfway draped out the window right now. I could fly away before you even stopped coughing from the dust."

Finally Celestia had to report to her mother that Luna wasn't coming out.

"We have no choice but to seal her windows and see what she does. My daughter, if she never comes out, when Queen Thorax finally attacks she'll be vulnerable!"

So they sealed off Luna's window and tried to draw her out again. When she refused to come out, Queen Galaxia used a handy spell to unlock the door and she barged in, Celestia right behind her.

Luna looked a little shocked, but eventually agreed holing up in her room wasn't the best way to deal with things. Soon the three never went out of each others' sights, and when King Cosmos finally came back from building the castle, everything seemed to relax again. Some guards were allowed to enter the palace again, and were entrusted to warn the royals should Queen Thorax launch her attack.

And then she did.

Nopony, really, knew what happened that day. It seemed as if their friends and family were simply _getting up_ and leaving, heading for Canterlot in swarms. Hijacking trains, pushing shocked commuters aside, and marching in mobs towards the fountain square in front of Canterlot Castle.

They stood there for a while, knocking aside anypony who tried to get through them or talk to them, and waited.

They were there for maybe ten minutes before the sky turned black and green.

The cloudless blue sky was choked and clogged with them. Thousands and thousands of uncloaked changelings, flying from the Hollow Mountains of the East, slowly transforming into the very mirror images of the gaping citizens below them.

And finally, they hovered in wait. Slowly, the crowd of strange beings who could change their appearance at will parted down the middle to reveal the one and only: Queen Galaxia.

At first the ponies were confused. Their queen had orchestrated this? Was it a new holiday? A celebration? Whatever it was, they began to cheer. Halfheartedly at first, then a deafening roar as the queen landed on the steps of the palace and smiled at her citizens.

Unbeknownst to her or her many minions, a white mare with orange eyes, an orange-and-red curly mane, and a similarly colored tail crept out of the back of the palace with a purple-coated mare with a curly tail and mane in a fancy updo in purple and light dusty violet. She had clear dark blue eyes. Her name was Blueberry Lovely, and she was with the one, the only, Firebolt.

They managed to make their way to Ponyville, which felt like a ghost town. Almost all its inhabitants had gone to Canterlot to witness the spectacle.

Tired, hungry, and thirsty, the two mares made their way to a clearing in the Everfree Forest, where Firebolt cast a spell and revealed a large, arched wood door. After the two went into the door, it vanished.

"Whew," Firebolt panted, slowly turning into Celestia. "Oh my stars, I thought we wouldn't make it!"

"I swear this copy of Cleur de Fleur looked at me suspiciously," Blueberry Lovely said as she turned into Luna. Cleur de Fleur was a boutique owner. Her quaint little shop was Celestia's favorite place to go-it seemed like Cleur had every beauty product under the sun. When she was younger, if she wasn't in her room or with Luna, Celestia would be at Clean and Cleur.

Celestia groaned. "Oh, not Cleur!"

"There's no helping them now. There's nothing we can do but wait," Luna sighed, thinking of her father. And her mother-what a shocker Equestria would get when they saw _two_ queens.

And they did-Queen Thorax-as-Galaxia had hardly finished two sentences before the true Queen Galaxia stepped out with King Cosmos at her side and forced Queen Thorax to reveal herself.

"Oh, no, you've caught me," Queen Thorax grinned evilly. "Whatever shall I do?"

"Call off your minions, Thoraxia. You will leave or you will be forced to." Queen Galaxia's voice was hard with anger as she said it.

Queen Thorax threw her head back and laughed, a terrible dry sound. "You and what army? Besides, you'd never win in a 1-on-1 battle against _me_. Even if it was just for a couple of minutes, taking on _your_ form has given me power beyond compare!" She cackled evilly, then looked at King Cosmos with a disgustingly sultry look.

"Join me, Cosmopoliattan, and we will rule Equestria with an iron hoof together! All you have to do is help me vanquish _her_." Queen Thorax nodded at Queen Galaxia.

King Cosmo's lip curled as he said: "I would never join forces with the likes of you, Thoraxia. Go back where you came from, beast."

Queen Thorax drew back a little, genuine hurt registering on her face. "Cosmopoliattan! I thought, all these millenium, that if I just came back, that you would love me as I love you...but no matter. If you love _her_ instead of me, I have no use for you any longer."

It was battle like no other-Queen Thorax blasting the royals and taunting them at every step, their expressions intensely focused at dodging and blasting at Queen Thorax and her minions.

"Where are your pretty princess daughters, Galaxia?" sneered Queen Thorax as she watched the the queen be set upon by a swarm of changelings disguised as civilians. "Hiding away in the palace, I suppose? Well, we'll soon drive them out. Guards! Search the palace, every nook and cranny of it!" Swarms of cloaked changelings swept towards the palace just as Queen Galaxia blasted aside another group of changelings.

For the first time the entire battle, Queen Galaxia smiled grimly. "You won't find them there, Thoraxia. You'll never find them!" She threw back her head and laughed, a beautiful musical sound that plugged itself into everypony's ears and calmed them down like smoke wafting into a cloud of bees.

The Royal Elite Queen of All Changelings didn't like that.

Queen Thorax snorted in fury. "You shall _NOT_ laugh at me ANY LONGER, GALAXIANA!" Eyes glowing a furious green, Queen Thorax reared back her head and threw it forward, releasing a terrifying spell towards the triumphant queen of Equestria.

An explosion rocked the earth, huge crevices spreading out every which way, swallowing everything in their paths, and deep in the Everfree Forest, amidst a bed of leaves, Princess Celestia awoke with a jolt.


	9. Chapter 9

Pain. Excruciating pain. White-hot pain. Whatever it was, there seemed to be no description for the sensation of being ripped apart, torn to pieces, shattered into millions of specks of dust.

She couldn't help it. She screamed. A horrible wailing sound that seemed to crumble the walls and collapse the floors. Or maybe it was the other way around, because there was just no separating the terrifying hallucinations with reality. What was real and what was projected by her tortured mind? Celestia didn't know. Perhaps it was better that she didn't.

Luna didn't even know what was happening. She heard only the agonized cries of her sister through the wall separating their bedrooms.

_Bang!_ The door of Celestia's room swung open and hit the wall behind it.

"Sister! Sister!" Luna cried. "Are you alright?"

"Luna, _I felt it_," Celestia panted, bolting upright in bed and still sweating bullets. "Oh it was the most _terrible_ pain you could ever imagine-oh my stars it was _horrible_-"

"Are you alright? Have you broken any bones? Is your horn alright?" Luna said, testing the latter herself. It seemed healthy and structurally sound, but she wasn't a hornetrician.

"N-no, nothing hurts, but _Luna_, oh it was like thousands of knives and needles and painful black magic stabbing and pricking and tearing at me-" Quite suddenly, the eldest princess of Equestria's eyes rolled back into her head and she keeled over in a dead faint.

"Tia!" Luna cried, trying desperately to rouse her unconscious sister. "Bother, bother, bother," she muttered when her efforts were for naught. Celestia was out cold, and would be for at least a couple of hours. And King Cosmos would never have stocked the palace with smelling salts, anyway. Come on, smelling salts? Fat chance.

King Cosmos! The thought bolted Luna upright! Her father! Her mother! They'd know what to do! After making sure Celestia was tucked in and locked the doors to her room, Luna galloped around checking the other multitudes of bedrooms for her parents'.

The new castle was small compared to Canterlot Castle, but it easily had almost a dozen rooms to sleep in, half a dozen on each of two levels of the castle. Luna searched all of them and came up with nothing.

_Surely they heard Tia's screams and came to check on her,_ Luna thought. _Yet I was the first one in the room._

Luna went all over the castle looking for the king and queen, but after searching every nook and cranny, she finally had to admit to herself that they were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they had already left the castle, and were currently doing repairs in Canterlot? Luna clung to this thread of hope, refusing to consider the alternative. That they had lost the battle against the changeling army.

Luna shook the thought from her mind as she went back to her room for a cloak. When she got there, she spent ten minutes narrowing down choices before coming at odds with a festive-looking red cape with gold accents and was lined with white fur and a simple black hooded garment.

_Just in case there are still some leftover changelings,_ Luna told herself as she put the red cape back into the closet. Before she left, she wrote a quick note for Celestia and slipped it under the door. Then, she slung on the cloak and was out the door.

Blueberry Lovely soon found there was no need for her black cloak, so she tucked it away in the messenger bag holding a meager hoof-full of bits. There was no worry, as the changeling menace appeared to have gone away.

Ponyville looked fine, normal, with citizens happily trotting about, smiles on their faces, animated voices chirping happy hellos. The delicious smells of bread, pastries and cakes baking wafted out of Clara's Cakes [A'sN: Sugar Cube Corner] and market vendors shouted their wares in the square.

But something was off. The Ponyvilians didn't have the same spring to their steps, the smiles were strained, and the voices sounded...just _strange_, as if it wasn't the ponies' own. The smells coming out of Clara's Cakes smelled almost musty, as if the baking supplies weren't exactly top-notch anymore, and the market vendors seemed weary and less willing to haggle.

Blueberry Lovely walked over to a familiar vendor: Periwinkle Fluff, who sold the loveliest flowers in all of Central Equestria.

"Hello," Blueberry said, smiling. "Periwinkle Fluff, is it?" she said cheerfully. Periwinkle gave a small smile.

"Yes," she replied. She seemed unwilling to say anything else, so Blueberry prompted her a little.

"I've been out of the country awhile, and it seems the whole country's in the dumps. What happened?" she asked.

Suddenly Periwinkle's expression changed. Her eyes widened, her face crinkled in fear. "You mean you don't _know_?" she gasped. "How could you not?"

"What?" Blueberry asked in fear. "What is it?"

Periwinkle looked about her stall, quickly, then whispered: "Oh, it's horrible! The king and queen have fallen and been kidnapped to the Hollow Mountains of the East and nopony knows where the princesses are! Luckily that horrible changeling queen got ill and had to retreat to the Hollow Mountains, but Canterlot's in shambles. They're trying to elect temporary rulers, and are offering rewards for anypony who helps them find the princesses. If you ask me," Periwinkle continued in a conspiratorial voice, "they shouldn't have to offer a reward. Everypony loves the princesses anyway."

Blueberry gasped. "The king and queen? Gone?"

"Yes, gone! And the princesses! They think that awful changeling queen took them as well, but nopony saw anything, which is worse! Oh, princesses, please come back!" Periwinkle sobbed. "Please excuse me," she said, pulling her "Closed" curtain shut.

Luna had had enough. She stormed back to the castle, filled a small bucket with cold water, took it into her sister's room and upended it over her sister's head.

"Gaah!" wailed Celestia as she awoke. "What? What happened? Are we under siege?"

"No, no," Luna said, quick to reassure her sister. "The changelings are gone, but they have Mother and Father with them! We have to go get them back, Tia, we must!"

Celestia gasped. "Not Mother and Father! Who's ruling Equestria?"

"Nopony! At least, I don't think so. Everypony's scrambling to get temporary rulers while they look for us! Hurry, Tia, we've got to go!"

"Right! Let's go!" Celestia shouted. She barged out the door and down the hallway, Luna following determinedly.

Outside, Luna was grateful to see that the clearing was still empty, because suddenly the castle was visible!

"Oh no," Celestia cried. "The spell's broken, which means Father's been weakened! We must hurry, Luna!" Celestia spread her wings and took flight.

Luna deactivated her cloaking spell and joined her sister in the sky. As they passed above Ponyville, they heard cheers: ragged and disbelieving at first, then strong and happy.

Neither of the sisters smiled.

"First, to Canterlot," Celestia said. "We must ensure everything is going smoothly."

"Right," Luna said. The two veered off towards Canterlot Mountain amidst cheers coming from the ground. A handful of pegasi even flew up to join the sisters in their flight to Canterlot. Soon the princesses had amassed an army of watchful citizens, protecting their princesses from any harm.

But this was war, and nopony was entirely safe.


	10. Chapter 10

Conk! Luna made a sound not much different from a small animal knocking around in a glass jar. Not that anypony would put a small animal in a jar. The hateful Queen Thorax had set a forcefield around Canterlot.

"Hag!" Celestia cried. A group of Canterlot citizens rushed over and pounded on the barrier.

"Where are all of the changelings? Wouldn't they stay to ensure we wouldn't return?" Luna said, puzzled, as Celestia frantically tried to remember a force field busting spell.

"Hiye, hiya, beybelunge!" Luna shouted in Ancient Alicorn (a more difficult manner of magic, going beyond the usual unicorn spell and needing vocal cues instead of just pure magic), amplifying a destruction spell. It bounced off and hit a tree, blasting it to smithereens.

"Dung!" she spat. Celestia shook her head.

"Calm, sister," she said. "A destruction spell won't do anything to a magic force field."

Luna rolled her eyes as Celestia closed her eyes and murmured a slower spell in Ancient Alicorn. A white-gold beam of light shot from Celestia's horn and enveloped the green forcefield surrounding Canterlot, then shattered it like glass. When the white-gold light dissipated, large chunks of glass-like green forcefield lay in the grass. Several unicorns helpfully moved the huge pieces away as the citizens greeted their princesses.

"Yes, yes, I'm glad to see you as well," Luna said, moving among the small cluster of citizens around her. She glanced over to see her sister being swarmed by a huge mob of ponies, all cheering and chanting "Ce-les-ti-a! Ce-les-ti-a!"

Ignoring the stabs of resentment in her heart, Luna called out to Celestia. "Ask them if any changelings remain!"

"Citizens of Canterlot-" Celestia tried, but she was barely audible above the roaring of the crowd. Celestia muttered "hiye hiya vokla na" under her breath, then boomed out: "CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT!"

All was silent. Blushing, Celestia continued using the vokla na spell. She didn't really fancy voice spells-they always strained her throat. But alas, royals had to use Ancient Alicorn for more than mundane spells. It was easier than trying to learn "simple magic" spells to do the same things.

"WE HAVE DESTROYED THE FORCEFIELD THAT IMPRISONED YOU, BUT WE MUST KNOW IF THE CHANGELINGS REMAIN." Puzzled, the citizens asked each other what the princess meant. What were changelings?

"CHANGELINGS ARE THE INSECTOID PONIES THAT INVADED YOUR HOME. THEIR QUEEN THORAX MASQUERADED AS YOUR QUEEN GALAXIA," Celestia added sheepishly, remembering that most citizens wouldn't know what changelings were.

After a few seconds, there was an unanimous shaking of heads. No changelings. The princesses shrugged.

Celestia wanted to tell her sister to be careful anyway, but judging from the consternation on her sister's face, there was no need for such a warning.

"THANK YOU CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT," Celestia shouted, then muttered "Dispelsu suy hiye hiya vokla na sey," she muttered, turning off the vokla na spell.

Then she looked at Luna, who gave her a panicked look. "Do you know what this means?"

It was up to them to save the king and queen of Equestria.


	11. Chapter 11

_Far from Canterlot, in a place well known as the Hollow Mountains of the East, in the Queen's bedroom..._

"Your time as Queen is here, my daughter. Tell me, how will you rule over your subjects?"

Princess Chrysalis wished that she could smile at the familiarity of the question, but couldn't bring her lips to do the deed. She could help noticing that this time it was phrased _your time as Queen is_ here_, my daughter_, not _draws near_. Her mother really was dying.

No. No crying. Her subjects did not need a weepy, weak Queen in such dire times. Princess Chrysalis cleared her throat and said: "My subjects will be treated with respect, mercy, and royalty, Mother."

Queen Thorax coughed, and several servants brought a mug of warm liquid love and some water. Queen Thorax took a sip of the latter before continuing: "And what of _other_ nations?"

Princess Chrysalis remembered when she was just a young change-filly, being asked these questions for what seemed the thousandth time. She'd squealed in wicked delight as she'd responded as she did now: "I will infiltrate their government, lull them into a false sense of humor..."

A cruel smile pulled Queen Thorax's lips towards her cold green eyes as her daughter closed her own eyes, took a deep breath and said fiercely: "and then DRAIN the love from their hearts until they are nothing but lifeless husks!"

Queen Thorax coughed again, a more raspy, desperate sound that the last, and coming in a peal, unstoppable until the Queen of All the Changelings recovered and said: "THAT is my daughter! JOIN me in evil laughter!"

And, just like old times, the Princess of All the Changelings Chrysalis did- only to watch helplessly as her mother's evil laughter dissolved into coughing

Then

Suddenly

Nothing.

As they carted her mother's body away Princess-Now-Queen Chrysalis willed not a tear to fall from her lashes. She remembered when her mother told her love was to be consumed, not to be stored in the heart, when her father was killed in battle. "He was a valiant warrior," was all Queen Thorax had said, and the memory faded.

Suddenly an army officer galloped into the room, surprising all the servants, including the now-Queen Chrysalis.

"Where is the Queen? Where is the Queen?" shouted the officer. Officer Sable, his name was.

"She is gone," said Chrysalis. "Bow to your queen!" Officer Sable's disbelieving look was hidden as he dropped into a quick bow for his new queen.

"Then let us do the coronation ceremony immediately," Officer Sable said. "My spies in the ponies' capital has brought information that their princesses are preparing for war. I've summoned them all back, but we must hurry. They are not sure how much time we have."

Chrysalis nodded grimly. "Ready the battalions. Those princesses are like eels in oil-deceitful and cunning. They could be here any moment: we must be ready. I shall dress myself in my...ceremonial attire." Chrysalis hadn't worn her ceremonial attire since...well, since she was fitted for a new one. The skirt was a layer of black on top of two green layers, all torn in the pure Changeling style. On top of that was a billowy, translucent dusty blue layer, also torn. The sleeves were short, jagged, and the collar was a two layers of sea green, jagged at the top, and a forest green calla lily fanning behind the neck and closing into a green gem in the front of the bodice.

For it, her hair was done in a loose but neat bun, with only a long strand to dangle by her face and another to tuck behind her ear. Her crown was tucked just in front of the bun.

_In my heart, there is no room_

_But I still want...[it] to be all mine_

"By the Law and Code of the Changelings, I hereby crown you as Queen Chrysalisa Silverwing of All the Changelings. Step forward and receive your crown."

The hours leading up to this tension-fraught moment had been excruciating: planning made for a ceremony done in hours that what should have been done over a week's time, the polishing of the coronation crown, the finding of a mage to do the rites, the dressing of the appropriate changelings, most of all the was-Princess Chrysalis's attire.

She was deviously beautiful.

No banquet was arranged: the first coronation the changeling empire would ever have, and it was of a grim air instead of being festive. All her subjects knew of the imminent danger in the form of their enemies' daughters-the same two enemies whose locations were a mystery. For, of course, Queen Thoraxia Silverwing had died with the secret. And there were no written records, no second-in-command who knew.

Chrysalis liked it that way.

She did as the mage asked. Just seconds before the mage had asked her: "Do you vow to protect your citizens and treat them with respect, mercy and royalty?"

Chrysalis thought she could have cried at the familiar words: almost her mother's dying words.

_No. No crying._

She'd said yes, of course. Then she'd said yes to a whole bunch of other boring vows. All leading up to this moment. This very moment when she would become the Queen of All the Changelings. A responsibility she would never have dreamed of carrying on her shoulders when she was young. Such a thing frightened her then.

It thrilled her now.

The crown was set on her head, and the ceremony room lit with a menacing green light as now-Queen Chrysalis's now-subjects cheered. Their encouragements sounded harsh, raucous in her ears.

Perfect.

Swooping into the air and muttering "hiye hiya vokla na" underneath her breath, she yelled: "MY SUBJECTS! I VOW TO RULE OVER YOU AS MY MOTHER NEVER HAD! BETTER, AND I WILL FINALLY RID US OF THE PONY MENACE THAT IS THEIR PRINCESSES!" More cheers.

Suddenly an echoing _boom_ sounded from beyond the small royal palace carved out of the mountain, causing all of Queen Chrysalis's subjects to shoot out of their carved seats, their wings to beat the air, their weapons to be brought out with menacing _shing!_s.

Queen Chrysalis flew to her chambers with her chambermaids to ready for battle:

The princesses of Equestria had arrived.


End file.
